Research Purposes
by Miss Shannon
Summary: The team gets two unexpected visitors who shake things up at the LAPD.
1. Chapter 1

**Research Purposes**

**- 1 -**

"Oh my, if this isn't a dreadful place, I don't know what is! Why do those government buildings always have to be such an assault on the eyes?"

Lieutenant Louie Provenza choked on a piece of his donut that his partner, Andy Flynn, had been watching him eat with obvious envy. The expression, however, was quickly replaced with a look of pure puzzlement at the sight of the new arrivals. Amy Sykes' eyebrows broke their own record as to smallest distance to the detective's hairline while Mike Tao's mouth formed a rather undignified 'O', his eyes going wide. Julio Sanchez hit his head on his desk under which he had been fumbling with a loose wire which momentarily kept him from finding out what the commotion was about. Only a second later, their eyes moved to their Captain, the woman in charge that they usually turned to in times of unexpected visitors, sudden catastrophes and all other predicaments.

Sharon Raydor had frozen in her tracks, her back to the door, holding on to the file she'd been about to open. Her posture was rigid, her shoulders square in the slim-fitting navy-blue suit she was wearing today. Very slowly, she turned towards the door but the look on her face was resigned rather than surprised. The visitor who had made the rather unflattering comment about their murder room's interior design spotted her immediately and gave a loud, piercing cry of what everyone was almost sure had to be enthusiasm.

"Sharon! Look at you!" Before any of them could fathom what was going on, the tall blonde woman had already enveloped their captain in a firm hug that looked threateningly suffocating. Another, shorter woman trailed behind the impressive blonde, also stretching her arms out for Sharon. Something about her was familiar, but even the LAPD's most elite squad sometimes missed the obvious.

They were snapped out of their strange-visitor-induced haze when Sharon gave a strained cough, signaling her impending suffocation due to the woman's hug.

"Oh, lord, Sharon. You poor thing. I am so sorry!" The blonde let go of her, clapping her hands that - oddly - were currently located in white lace gloves, making Amy Sykes look more puzzled than usual. She reminded herself to look it up on the internet later; maybe it was yet another fashion trend she had missed.

Sharon Raydor shook her head, obviously baffled, then stepped around the - impressively tall - blonde woman and wrapped her arms gently around her companion. They were about the same height, the others now realized, and that observation quickly led them to the conclusion that they were also similar in build and mannerisms.

"Dott, what are you doing here?" Sharon asked, her voice mildly surprised yet neutral enough to disguise her true feelings as to the woman's visit.

"And Ellie!" The other woman sang. "Good day to you, too, Missy. You look adorable as usual."

She turned towards the baffled onlookers and gave a charming smile that bordered on sexual harassment, or so Provenza thought with some arousal. She quickly took in the men in the room and then cocked her head at Sanchez, biting her lower lip with exaggerated glee. She lifted an eyebrow at him and smiled, making Sanchez more than just uncomfortable. For some reason she was carrying an old fashioned cigarette holder that she now slid in her pocket to be free to tap Sharon's shoulder. The now rather flustered-looking captain turned towards her with a questioning look.

"Wouldn't you like to introduce us, honey?" The woman named Ellie purred, stroking Sharon's arm with claw-like pink fingernails. "Is that Armani? Beautiful. Those boring suits always looked spectacular on you and before you ask, yes, that is actually meant as a compliment."

Sharon Raydor looked defeated. In fact, she reminded Andy Flynn of someone who'd been caught in a storm. Even her hair suddenly looked ruffled, probably courtesy of the hug. She tugged at her blazer although it fit her perfectly - so he had been casually observing all morning. She then gestured towards the woman next to her who, at second glance, looked remarkably like her.

"This is my sister Dott from New York." Andy regarded the woman with some interest. Her wardrobe was similar to Sharon's, yet completely different somehow, her skirts shorter and her neckline plunging. He tried not to look at it because comparing his captain's breasts to those of her sister seemed wildly inappropriate. One look at Provenza, however, proved that he was doing exactly that. He tried to concentrate on Dott's shoulder length hair with its slightly darker color when compared to Sharon. The same green eyes Sharon had sparkled at him from under fluffy bangs.

"Hi," Dott spoke for the first time, her voice not unlike the Captain's too, though it was higher and a little more lively somehow. "Sorry to interrupt."

"This is Ellie Walker," Sharon continued somewhat tiredly. "My sister's best-"

"ELLIE WALKER?" Sharon rolled her eyes, mimicked inadvertedly by her sister a moment later while Ellie straightened up from where she'd been leaning again Sanchez's desk, putting her hand on her hip and turning her face towards the ceiling as if posing for a photo shoot. Sykes' cheeks were pink while she began rummaging in her desk drawer to withdraw a tattered-looking paperback novel to hold it up. "I _loved_ your last book!" she relayed breathlessly. "It was _so_ good. To be honest... I loved all the others, too!"

Tao's eyes widened even more at Sykes acting so out of character. Romance novels, Flynn thought, it figured somehow.

"Thank you, thank you, darling!" Ellie playfully waved her away. "Let me sign that for you later!" Sykes made a noise that sounded like a cat that someone had stepped on. Flynn was familiar with the sound since Rusty had recently adopted an impossibly fat specimen ill-fatedly named and only responding to "Lord Voldemort" who moved a lot more quietly than his considerable size would have suggested and had therefore been stepped on by him on two unfortunate occasions.

Sharon began to introduce the team that found themselves scrutinized by both Ellie and Dott who turned out to be a lot less discreet than her sister. Her gaze lingered on Flynn and she gave a sultry grin.

"I am glad to see you, Dott, but what exactly are you doing here?" Sharon asked rather politely, but the familiar twitch of her eyebrow told the attentive observer that she wasn't entirely pleased with the situation.

"It's about Ellie, really." Dott pointed at her friend who had taken up residence on Sanchez's desk for real now, her legs crossed and her hand very close to a startled Sanchez's cheek, not listening to the sisters' conversation at all. "She is researching for her next book. It is going to be set in the LAPD, chronicling the love story between-"

"Your skin is like caramel!" Ellie interrupted her, oblivious to the very fact that she had been speaking. Sanchez gulped, obviously not sure yet whether he was happy about the blatant act of flirting or scared shitless. Provenza looked jealous. "You should loosen that tie!" Ellie reached out but Sharon stopped her while her sister gave an amused snort of laughter. She didn't seem to mind her friend's shenanigans. She was probably used to it.

"Why do you have to do your research here?" Sharon asked rather sharply now, but her tone of voice was probably owed to the strain that pulling Ellie off Sanchez was causing.

"Isn't this the LAPD, sweetie?" Ellie roared, patting Sharon's cheek. It was rather interesting to see their Captain's usually very smooth exterior crumble.

"It is," she said from between gritted teeth. "but there is a huge number of other police departments in this country. Why didn't you pick one of them?"

"Because this-" Ellie made a grand gesture with her arms, almost knocking Sharon's glasses off her nose in the process. "is Hollywood! It is where the big things happen! Where the romantic things happen-"

"I can't see anything romantic about people being killed," Sharon noted, but was ignored entirely. Dott stood next to her, patting her shoulder comfortingly. It was really impossible to tell who the younger sister was, but from the way they were acting, Flynn thought maybe Sharon was the older one.

"The murders aren't that important!" Ellie said, obviously enjoying the fact that she had a captivated, if eerily fascinated audience. "It is the _love_, Sharon. The _love_! Nobody cares about dead bodies. People care about whether people have affairs, fall in love, have rough sex on desks in offices, get caught, have babies, make out in elevators! Take Detective Sanchez here," The aforementioned looked rather uncomfortable now. "Does anyone care about watching him chase down leads? Oh no! We want to know whether he would passionately pull the woman he desires into a supply closet to-"

"Ellie!" Sharon interrupted her quickly. "I think we've heard quite enough."

"Writer's block!" Dott whispered loud enough for anyone to hear. "Just give us a week, okay, Sharon? Just let her ride along, let her observe and get invited to the release party back in New York. You can even bring a da-ha-te!" She wriggled her eyebrows at her sister who instantly began to look uncomfortable.

"Not Julio here, though," Ellie informed her and turned back towards the detective. "He is with me."

Flynn grinned at the sight of the rather imposing woman in a bubble gum pink dress lounging on his squad mate's desk once again, stretching out a leg for him to admire before his eyes returned to the very similar-looking, yet completely different sisters. Dott was giggling by now.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "One week, Dott...!" she said, the underlying threat unmistakable in her voice.

"I think I must get to know those detectives better!" Ellie announced. "Maybe I could throw you a little party at our hotel later. What do you think, Dott?"

Sharon crossed her arms, apparently a little miffed to have been unceremoniously taken out of the loop now that she had principally agreed to their plan.

"That sounds great!" Dott confirmed, smiling brightly. It was her smile that confused Flynn somewhat, it seeming so familiar although it wasn't half as guarded and controlled as Sharon's. Ellie let out another high-pitched roar, indicating excitement (or so he thought).

"So what is going on here?" she asked casually, frowning at the photos on the white board. "Woah, a dead woman. How tragic. Has that picture been taken at the morgue?"

"No, she is still alive," Sykes supplied, her eyes a bit glassy. "That's a witness. We snapped that shot of her at the gym."

"That is very unfortunate. That woman needs a make-over." Ellie shrugged. "Speaking of which, I need to freshen up a little after the long flight. Dott and I expect you at eight at the Ritz-Carlton. Suite at the top floor. Come thirsty!"

And as quickly as they'd blown in, the two women exited again, leaving a stunned Major Crimes squad and a slightly distraught-looking Sharon.

It was certainly going to be an interesting night.


	2. Chapter 2

**- 2 -**

Sharon Raydor rubbed the bridge of her nose furiously and in the vague hope of chasing away the headache that was creeping up on her. Rusty took a turn without signaling first, but she decided to let it slip on account of the deep affliction of having to be Sharon Raydor at the present moment. She did not miss his sideward glance at her just before he went for another maneuver that was not exactly a testament to sensible driving either. He was doing it on purpose, she realized, not sure what to do with that particular piece of information right now.

"So Dott is your sister," Rusty began in that nasal teenage voice that never bode well, reminding Sharon that she was not only the loved yet boring spoilsport of a sister to flamboyant New Yorker Dott Emerson, but also loving and mostly patient foster mother to a teenager who had trouble meeting new people. If Ellie made a move on him, which she wouldn't have put past her seeing her with Dott's teenage son a few years ago ("_Brendan, helloooohooooo!_"), she would kill her with her bare hands. But telling those two that her foster son had a rocky relationship with sexuality in general and was just beginning to discover that he was gay would be no good. Well-meaning, yet bat shit crazy as they were, they would probably try and set him up with some guy. Pressure was the very last thing Rusty needed and so she sat up straight and decided to put on a brave face.

"She is," she replied softly, letting Rusty decide where he wanted the conversation to go before she made any assumptions that made him fly off the handle - as teenagers did so frequently - and kill them both in a rage and reckless driving induced car crash.

"She looks a lot like you from the photos," Rusty continued rather carefully. Sharon sighed. Dott had been sending her pictures of her and Ellie in obscure outfits all afternoon. After seeing one, Rusty had almost choked to death on a mars bar and then demanded to see the rest of them.

"I can assure you that this is where the similarities end," Sharon said dryly, looking out of the window at the lights that, at this speed, were blurred.

"Do you two, like, get along well?" Sharon resisted the urge to correct him, tell him to lay off the "likes", stop throwing them in every other word. He would probably just roll her eyes at her if he got it at all. At least he wasn't using any words that seemed to have become part of the English language at some point but didn't make sense to her at all. That reminded her, she still needed to google _twerking_ as well as _swag_.

"We do, actually," she said honestly. "She just tends to, well, be a little overwhelming."

"And Ellie? You said they were close."

Sharon chuckled. "Just think of them as the female version of Andy and Provenza, Rusty. Just with more make-up and less scruples."

Rusty shot her a surprised look as he pulled into the hotel's parking lot, her relatively new car protesting with a groan. Sharon grimaced. This was a foreshadowing of the evening to come if there ever was one.

Dott and Ellie greeted them in a closed-off section of the hotel bar in the way they were comfortable having sections of bars closed-up to drink like fishes without being observed by the general public. Dott was wearing a dark red cocktail dress while Ellie was wrapped up in yet another hard to describe bubble gum pink lace sort of thing that looked weirdly fashionable along with the tiny hat fixed to the woman's golden locks.

"Sharon!" Her voice boomed as they saw her and Sharon had to try hard not to move in front of Rusty for protection as she approached and showered her with hugs and kisses as if they hadn't seen each other just mere hours ago. Raising an eyebrow at Rusty, she cocked her head. "And you, little man!" She leaned into Sharon, whispering rather loudly: "When did you have another one? Didn't think you'd let Jack near you in the past two decades."

"He's her foster son!" Dott corrected, shaking her head.

"Foster son!" Ellie said, her face lighting up. "No sex with Jack then. Good for you, girl. Good for you. From the looks of him I always figured he'd be a-"

Sharon was saved from having to listen to her sister's best friend's assessment of her husband's skills in the sheets by the arrival of Flynn and Provenza who were eyeing the women curiously. Sharon couldn't help but notice that Dott straightened up a bit at the sight of Andy and that her smile became wider. She was about to come to the conclusion that she needed a drink when a waiter arrived and handed her a flute of champagne that she very much felt like gulping down in one go, but didn't. _Composure, Sharon_.

Ellie and Dott greeted the whole team like the two skilled hostesses that they were, Ellie not-so-discreetly feeling up Sanchez' behind which made him blush furiously and Buzz almost spit out a sip of champagne. This was not good, Sharon thought. Somehow it would fall back on her, even though she was clearly the more normal sister. Someone would talk by the water cooler and soon everybody would just assume that she came from a family of cuckoos. Which was not the complete opposite of the truth, if she was honest with herself.

Soon the party was in full swing and even Rusty seemed to have forgotten that it was his job as a teenager to be perpetually sullen or upset about something that made him storm out of the room. He seemed happy and relaxed, sipping fizzy drinks and talking to Buzz and Tao. Sharon's heart warmed a little seeing him that comfortable. The feeling vanished quickly, however, as Ellie shrieked happily, announcing a game of spin the bottle and throwing a half full champagne bottle in the middle of the table, spraying the people around it with the cold liquid.

Sharon had another glass of champagne. Thank god for teenagers that were keen on driving, below the legal drinking age and terrified of her wrath should they dare and have even one sip of alcohol.

A tray of food was offered to her but Sharon was too busy staring at Ellie whose hand was wrapped around the back of Sanchez's head, pulling him towards her shoulder. The man looked weary, as if he had already given up. Sharon wanted to move forward to save him but was stopped by the waiter who topped up her glass.

A painful fifteen minutes later they finally moved on to dinner, seated in a secluded area out on the patio under a row of lights strung between potted trees whose leaves swayed gently in the breeze. The display wouldn't have been out of place in a romantic comedy, but before Sharon could dwell on it, Provenza had taken her arm to guide her to the table rather gallantly.

Instant suspicion arose on the part of Sharon Raydor.

"Your sister and her friend seem to be very wealthy," he said and she raised both brows.

"Dott had a brilliant divorce lawyer and Ellie makes a lot of money with her books," she replied, even more taken aback by the fact that Provenza pulled out her chair for her. Something was definitely up. And finally, after a lot of meaningless small talk that was not usually Provenza's style, came the ambush she had been suspecting all along.

"Your sister," he said rather casually. "Is she... spoken for?"

"Oh god, Sharon! Are you okay?" On her other side, Rusty leaned into Sharon and put his hand on her arm as she coughed helplessly, having choked on her wine.

"I'm good," she breathed, feeling everything but. Provenza liked her sister? She stole a glance at him and from the looks of him - bright pink face and wide eyes - she realized that she had been spot on. Sharon took another sip of wine that burned its way down her sore throat, making her feel even more miserable. Faking another round of coughing to stall the inevitable, she looked over the table at Dott who was telling Andy a story, waving her hands in the air and smiling in the carefree sparkling way that sometimes was hard to achieve when you had worked in Internal Affairs for two decades and still hadn't officially divorced your gambling husband. Flynn's head was angled at her in a way that made it impossible to see from her vantage point whether he was being polite or truly interested.

_There you are, Sharon. The boring sister again._

And whoever had labeled her that wasn't wrong, she thought scornfully. She was terribly boring. Rule-abiding. Hard-working. Devoid of friends that insisted on climbing the fence and were falling face first into the sand as a result, as Ellie was currently in the middle of attempting.

"Captain, you're staring into space." Sharon turned her head and looked at Provenza, trying to remember what he was waiting on. Then it dawned on her.

"Oh, sorry." She tried a smile. "Well, I am not sure. She is not married if that's what you're asking."

"Ah," Provenza said with feigned disinterest, but his eyes flitted towards Sharon's sister, eyeing her cleavage. Sharon felt a little sick.

Tao and Sanchez had succeeded in rescuing Ellie from her sandy predicament and were currently busy resettling her in her chair which was a little hard considering that Ellie was trying to push her foot into Julio's lap which Tao did his best to ignore. It was all quite comical and she could feel the level of drunkenness rising at all fronts around her. She would have to make sure they all got a cab later. Or could carpool with Andy.

Said lieutenant looked at her across the table that very moment while Dott was still engrossed in one of her stories and smirked. Sharon hiccupped and felt mortified.

"Sharon are you _drunk_?" Rusty's eyes were wide and innocent. He looked like a little boy now and Sharon felt the urge to hug him tight. Instead she straightened up.

"Rusty, please," she said sternly. "I am not-" - hiccup - "drunk."

Rusty looked at her.

Sharon looked back.

"That was unfortunate," she said with as much dignity as she could muster. She was a little tipsy, she had to admit. But not drunk. "Excuse me."

Once safely inside the ladies' room, she splashed water on to her face, careful not to ruin her make-up. She looked good, but of course her modest midnight blue satin dress was no match for Dott's risque little red number. Sharon applied a generous amount of lipstick, pouted at her reflection and then turned to leave, feeling in control of her bearings again.

Outside in the dimly lit hallway stood Andy Flynn, waiting next to a yucca tree, hands buried in his pockets.

"If this is supposed to be secret surveillance, you're doing it wrong," she told him. He looked very attractive against the backdrop of the velvety summer night.

"I am just staking you out to see whether you're going to attempt to climb your way on to the beach, too," he replied smoothly.

"Because that worked so well for Ellie?" Sharon smirked and sauntered closer.

"I would like to see you try. With a skirt that short it should be a spectacle I feel interested in watching."

Sharon's stomach fluttered at the remarkably well-hidden compliment.

"Like the earrings, too," Andy said, gently touching the simple silver strings with his fingertips.

Sharon felt light-headed and besides the fact that Andy was standing in front of her, admiring her jewelry, she knew that all that champagne was what as physically putting her in this state. Deciding that it didn't matter, she took two less than graceful steps into Andy's direction, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him senseless. Surprised by the ferocity of it, Andy fell into the yucca tree and almost knocked it over, albeit returning her kiss, running his hands down her back and grunting appreciatively at her. Or maybe it was the pain from the handle of the window in his back, one could never be sure.

They were interrupted by both of their cell phones beginning to ring simultaneously. Sharon groaned and let go of him rather reluctantly.

"Give me your phone. I am going to climb that fence and throw them in the ocean," Andy said, still a little breathless.

"You threatened to throw them out of my bedroom window last weekend," she reminded him as she searched through her purse for the offending piece of technology, currently blasting Mozart at a volume that was ungodly. The Queen of the Night's aria from The Magic Flute no less. Damn Rusty. What had she done wrong this time? He liked to change her ringtones if she was too strict with him for his liking.

Andy had found his cell phone, too, and was bringing a little distance between to provide them both privacy. She felt a little ridiculous holding on to his hand until they stood too far apart to reach each other, but Dott's attempts to gain Andy's attention had made her feel weirdly possessive of her secret boyfriend of six weeks.

"Captain Raydor, we have a body." She could tell from the look on Andy's face that he had been called with the same message. Their eyes met and she was hearing the others' footsteps coming up the corridor already. Ten frantic seconds later she had scrubbed her lipstick off Andy's face and stood tall, still tipsy but somewhat dignified, to await her team and their two shadows.


	3. Chapter 3

**- 3 -**

Since nobody except Rusty and Andy was in any state to drive, everybody was loaded into their two cars and in a flurry of elbows meeting stomachs and muttered curses, they were off to the crime scene. Sharon's head was swimming, so she busied herself with staring out of the window, trying to calculate the number of drinks she'd had in her mind. Unfortunately she kept getting sidetracked by Andy who had decided to use the brawl in his backseat to try and lace his fingers with hers. Which was completely inappropriate given the fact that half their squad was engaged in a drunken argument just behind them.

"Why do you take up so much space, sir?" Sykes' tone conveyed more exasperation than anyone would have thought possible. Provenza's reaction consisted of a grunt and an annoyed huff. Tao was curiously silent, but then Sharon had spotted her sister having him do shots with her at some point and he was not known to hold his liquor particularly well. On the one hand she was relieved that Dott and Ellie were in the other car with Rusty, Sanchez and Buzz but on the other hand she feared for her foster son's safety. Who knew what shenanigans they were up to right now. Then again, given Rusty's driving skills, she wasn't sure that she would not be mourning half of her team and a sister by the end of the night.

"You okay?" Andy's voice was low and intimate and it sent shivers down her spine. It didn't actually matter what he was saying whenever he was using that tone, but it had rather helped that night six weeks ago that he had confessed his feelings for her.

"I'm fine," she said. She was technically one drink away from drunk, but she found it wiser not to tell him that. At least they weren't on call tonight, so she wasn't to blame for their unfortunate situation. If Taylor hadn't so graciously volunteered them, nobody would have ever been the wiser when it came to their questionable drinking. She snorted and glanced at the three people in the backseat. Provenza's face was red, Sykes was telling a story, waving her arms uncharacteristically while Tao was either asleep or dead.

This was not going to be fun.

"Andy, you'll have to take a bit of a lead in this," she told him quietly and he smirked as he safely drove them through the night. _A team just isn't complete without a recovering alcoholic. _She grimaced at that thought as it sounded inappropriate somehow. Her mind, however, wasn't exactly in the right state to figure out why. She winced at that discovery. Priding herself in being the epitome of propriety in a sober state, she had long since found that it was the first thing that alcohol would take away from her. It was a bit of a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide situation. Or in her case, a Sharon Raydor and Dott Emerson situation as her sister loved being inappropriate. (Or maybe she was just drunk more often.)

"You are favoring me already," Andy teased her. "Allowing me to take the lead and all."

"I favor you because you are the only member of this squad who isn't drunk," she said sternly.

"I know. I was kidding," Flynn told her. "You're rather cute when you're drunk, Sharon."

"Inebriated," she corrected him hastily. "_Slightly_ inebriated, that is."

She hiccupped and Provenza laughed, startling Tao who was apparently not dead after all. Which was a good thing. Or so Sharon hoped.

"We're almost there," Flynn announced. Fortunately, Rusty had taken the lead, using her GPS system. She had had to learn the hard way that Andy was old school and therefore insisted on abstaining from that particular kind of modern technology, claiming that he knew Los Angeles like the back of his hand. If that was the case, he didn't know the back of his hand very well.

She opened her purse and retrieved a small box of breath mints. Having popped three into her mouth, she held it out to Provenza first.

"Everyone have a-"

"And then he was just off like-" Sykes made a grand gesture with her hand and knocked the open container out of Sharon's hand, spilling its contents all over Provenza who reacted as if it weren't breath mints but poisonous insects in his lap. One of his flailing arms hit Sykes in the face, causing her to complain to Tao whose gaze remained unfocused. Sharon rolled her eyes and decided to ignore the tumultuous circumstances behind her.

* * *

Rusty didn't mind Sharon being a bit drunk. Truth be told, he actually relished it. While it was great to have a mother figure who was in control of her bearings, he really, really enjoyed seeing her come undone like that. He would certainly hold it against her whenever he'd see fit in the near future, an event he was very much looking forward to. He would have probably stuck to her side to make sure she was alright under different circumstances, but Flynn seemed to have appointed himself to the task already. Judging from the bogus excuses he had been making up lately to come round the condo, he and Sharon were now either more than just friends or he was a very lonely and hugely pathetic person.

He watched the squad march towards the body that was slouched against an old Mustang, obviously having been shot. There was very little to see from his vantage point, but he had long since ceased being too interested in seeing the gruesome images his foster mother had to deal with every day. A hand was placed on his shoulder and when he turned around, he found Ellie's painted lips smiling at him. She remined him faintly of a shark.

"Hello, young man. Have you been confined to the sidelines?" she sang.

"Yeah. Sharon is kind of strict like that." She didn't look drunk at all, but maybe that was just the fact that she was more used to it than the rest of the group.

"Do tell," Dott appeared in his line of sight, giving him that dazzling smile the beginnings of which he had sometimes seen on Sharon's face before she remembered that she didn't like to show her feelings too obviously. In many ways, Dott seemed to be Sharon's evil twin which Rusty found extremely fascinating. "Is Lieutenant Flynn married?"

The woman didn't beat around the bush, that much was for sure. Ellie let out a high-pitched scream that caused Rusty to take a startled step back. "You like him? Dott you like him? Oh!" She clasped her hands together. "Rudolf, your aunt hasn't shown any interest in a man ever since that ill-fated affair with the author of those dreadful-"

"Don't remind me," Dott said in a grave voice that reminded Rusty of Sharon when she insisted that his room had to be cleaned now, not tonight or tomorrow. "And his name is Rusty."

Ellie pursed her lips. "No offense, child, but what kind of name is that?"

"Ellie!" Dott admonished her. "Get a grip." She turned back towards Rusty. "About Lieutenant Flynn..."

Rusty had been hoping that she wouldn't get back to that and he shrugged. "No, he is not married." Dott's face lit up and he could tell instantly that she was attracted to Andy. Who was very likely to be in a relationship with her sister who very obviously didn't want anyone to know. Rusty bit his lip. The whole situation was extremely unfortunate, to put it mildly. Without giving it too much thought, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"Yeah, but you really don't want to date him." He sounded defensive even to his own ears.

Dott raised both of her eyebrows prompting Rusty to shudder. The similarities between her sister and her were rather disconcerting. "Why? He seemed like a really nice guy to me."

"He's-" Rusty was scrambling for something that would put her off, something that would convince her that Flynn was not the eligible bachelor she made him out to be. On the other hand he didn't want to say anything nasty about Flynn because he really was a nice guy. Just last week Sharon had nearly walked into a glass door because she had her head in the clouds nowadays because of him. Suddenly it dawned upon him and he shrugged nonchalantly.

"You know how it is," he said with what he hoped looked like a shy grin. "He and Provenza-" he motioned towards the two men standing next to each other. It was pure luck that tipsy Provenza had momentarily lost balance and was leaning slightly into his partner at this very moment. "You know. They're an item."

Ellie howled with laughter and Dott let out a deep sigh. "Of course. The good ones are always either taken or gay. Or both." She pursed her lips in disappointment. "Is Sharon okay with that? I mean with two of her officers being in a relationship?"

Rusty almost laughed out loud. She'd be a hypocrite if she wasn't. But then again, there was no other inter-office relationship other than hers. (Or so he hoped.)

He was saved from telling any more stories that were pure fantasy by Ellie who grabbed his arm. "What's happening over there? Let's go, let's go!"

"Sharon told us to stay back," Rusty warned, but Dott just grabbed his other arm.

"Don't be a bore, kid. We need to check out what's going on!"

"Honey," Ellie cooed, feeling his upper arm. "Do you work out?"

"Ellie! Cut it!" Dott said. "I thought we agreed that you wouldn't come on to anyone under twenty-one anymore."

* * *

Sharon's hiccups weren't going away and despite her very minty breath, Andy kept catching weird looks from the coroner and the uniformed officers guiding the scene. Maybe they were due to the rest of the squad, though, as Sanchez didn't say a word even when addressed. Instead he was grinning constantly, an absent, blissful look in his eyes that was more than just a little uncharacteristic. Buzz was filming his shoes without noticing it while Amy Sykes was gulping down coffee in a bid to sober up. Good of her, Andy thought. Youth and ambition were probably what made her do it, two traits Provenza certainly didn't possess anymore. The man was leaning heavily on Andy, looking around aimlessly while he yawned.

"Who reported the-" _hiccup_ "crime?" Sharon asked, trying to preserve her dignity by ignoring her obvious state.

"This young lady over there, Ma'am." One of the uniformed cops who, according to his name tag, was called Simmons answered. His rigid posture, hands folded behind his back, feet wide apart and chin up, gave away that he was probably ex-military.

"At ease, before you sprain something," Sharon said, smiling up at him from under her lashes. Andy could tell from the sudden silence around them that he wasn't the only one who was hugely taken aback by this comment. Sharon looked shocked for a moment then obviously decided to just ignore her own indiscretions. She turned around to face her squad in order to pick someone to interview the young woman but found only a group of hopelessly inebriated individuals, so she nodded at Andy.

"I'll go and ask her a few questions. You take care of this, Lieutenant. Whoops. Sorry." She patted Simmons' shoulder that she had inadvertedly bumped into and walked on. With a mixture of amusement and jealousy, Andy realized that the faint blush on the young man's cheeks had less to do with embarrassment than with the fact that he was pleased because he thought Sharon was flirting with him. He cleared his throat and gave him the darkest stare he could muster.

* * *

When Sharon approached the young woman Simmons had pointed out to her, she froze in her tracks, heaving a sigh. Around the petite brunette, Ellie and Dott were grouped, patting her shoulders, wiping her tears away and holding her hands. Rusty stood next to them with a thoroughly puzzled expression. Sharon gave him a reassuring look and saw a flash of guilt in his eyes at the sight of her. If she managed to remember it later, she really needed to find out what it was that he was feeling guilty about. She leaned into the young woman and gently nudged Ellie's hand away from her face.

"Good evening, my name is Captain Sharon Raydor of the LAPD," she introduced herself to the witness.

"HA!" Ellie interrupted with a giddy expression. "CAPTAIN SHARON RAYDOR! That sounds so badass, Sharon!" She scribbled something down on the notepad she was carrying around with her. Sharon sincerely hoped that the other woman would not comment on her every words from now on or else she might go mad.

"What is your name?" she asked softly.

"Gretchen Miller," the girl said shyly. She couldn't be any older than Rusty, Sharon noticed and even after a little too much wine her maternal instincts kicked in just as well.

"Do you want me to call your parents for you?"

"_She asked in her soft, deep voice, her motherly heart pulsating with concern for the young doe whose big brown eyes had witnessed such brutality, whose slender hands were trembling_-"

"Ellie!" Sharon said sharply.

"Oh sorry, am I thinking aloud again?"

Sharon blinked, trying to chase the vertigo away. This was not the moment to experience any more symptoms of her tipsyness.

"My parents are out of town. I don't want to worry them," Gretchen said quietly, looking down at her folded hands.

"Do you know the man over there?" Sharon asked her gently, waving in the general direction of the body.

"Which one, Ma'am?" The girl looked up at her with her - indeed pretty large - brown eyes. "One of the older gentlemen or the Hispanic one with the goofy look on his face?"

Dott leaned in long enough to sarcastically say: "The dead one, love."

"Oh!" The girl's eyes filled with tears as if she had only just remembered that there was a murdered guy not far from her. Sharon was beginning to shiver with the cold air in the parking lot. She looked around for shelter but saw only the blinking lights of the city beneath them. They were at the edge of the woods, a small lavatory building the only landmark in sight.

"_The leaves whispered in the distance, the nightly wind bringing an ominous chill. She looked at the young man standing next to her. The shock of blond hair, the kind eyes and the broad shoulders of a child turning into a man-_" Ellie whispered while scribbling furiously.

"Excuse-!" Rusty began, obviously not happy with being cast as the unwilling love interest, but Sharon silenced him with a quick hand on his arm.

"Did you know the deceased?" Sharon clarified, beginning to get a little short-tempered with the girl.

"Oh no. I didn't." She shook her head, almost causing Sharon to hum with disappointment. Sometimes she thought that talkative witnesses were the worst, forcing her to filter from their stories of their family, friends and neighbors the details actually relevant to her case. However, this young woman was an obstacle in herself.

"How did you find" _hiccup_ "him?"

She definitely wasn't on top of her game either.

The girl dabbed at her eyes with a pink handkerchief. "I stopped here because I wanted to call my boyfriend to tell him that I'd be home soon and then I saw him there." Without warning, she burst into tears.

"_Delicate like thaw, a tear runs down her rosy cheek as she looks up at the experienced old woman across from her... _AHHHHH!"

Much to Sharon's satisfaction, Dott had hit Ellie over the head with her purse.

"That's my younger sister you're talking about!"

It was going to be a long night.


	4. Chapter 4

**- 4 -**

The lights seemed too bright as Sharon Raydor blinked against them, slowly coming to. Before she could release the groan that was building in her throat, a delightfully cool hand came to rest on her forehead, a thumb applying just the right amount of pressure to lessen her headache somewhat.

"How's the head, sweetheart?" For once she let him get away with this particular term of endearment and opened her eyes fully to look at him. Andy's hair was a lovely mess, silver strands sticking out at different angles. She smiled at the sight and reached out to run her hand down his arm.

"Not especially good," she admitted. "but a cup of coffee and an advil should be able to fix that."

He took his hand off her forehead, replacing it with his lips. "It is six thirty, by the way. We need to get a move on, soon."

Sharon groaned after all, reaching around his torso to pull him close and bury her face in his t-shirt. "I don't want to go to work," she whined. "If Ellie continues to narrate my life, I am going to throw her out of a window."

He patted her head gently. "No, no, honey. We both know you're too reasonable for that, don't we?"

Sharon made a noise of contempt and snuggled into him more. "The autopsy is first up this morning," she said. "Will you come with me? I don't think anyone else has the stomach for it after last night."

Andy chuckled. "But you do?"

"I am the boss," she crinkled her nose in disgust. "I guess I will have to pretend that I am not seriously hung-over."

He kissed her forehead. "Good luck with that."

Stretching her legs, Sharon was about to sit up when a sudden weight was on her ankles, her left foot suddenly in a death grip. She shrieked and bolted, spotting Rusty's cat at the foot of the bed.

"Who let Lord Voldemort in here?" she asked, looking at the cat that was apparently in a playful mood.

"He was howling in front of the door, begging to be let in. I couldn't sleep," Andy said defensively. "He loves you, Sharon."

Sharon sighed. "You know, I am actually more of a dog person."

"Maybe changing that was Chief Johnson's idea when she gave him to Rusty. She is sneaky like that."

Sharon hummed when the cat walked over to her and attempted to climb on her lap. "Don't do that, cat. Take him off me."

Andy reached towards the animal but found himself hissed at in a quite dangerous manner. Sharon rolled her eyes and took the now purring cat off herself, setting him on the floor next to the bed. "Come on, kitty. It's breakfast time."

"Kitty?" Andy asked. "If you had a glass of Merlot in your hand, I could confuse you with the chief."

Sharon shot him a dark glare. "I hope that you've never seen Chief Johnson in her panties or I swear to god, I'll kill you."

* * *

Andy certainly hadn't expected Sharon's sister and her intimidatingly tall sidekick to be able to see straight, much less wait for them at the morgue somewhat timid and all over Dr Morales respectively. Dott was in the doorway, breathing in an exaggerated manner and casting scared glimpses at the corpse from the corners of her eyes while Ellie was hovering over Dr Morales shoulder, purring flirty words, blissfully oblivious to the fact that the good pathologist was happily homosexual. Sharon rolled her eyes, having regained some color after a hearty breakfast and three cups of strong coffee. Maybe Rusty's relentless teasing about her sorry state had also helped her pull it together. At least she had been lucid enough to assign him an endless list of household chores for after school.

"Good morning, Dott." Sharon patted her sister's shoulder. "This is your first autopsy, I gather?"

Dott hid her face in Sharon's sleeve. "Ohhh, Sharon! How do you do it? Seriously? It is so... so... _gross_."

Andy couldn't hide his grin at the sight of a woman who didn't look so different from Sharon, yet behaved much like Rusty. Even inebriated his captain hadn't been close to this level of goofiness and he would have given anything to see her like that for once. But Sharon seemed to have other plans that obviously involved ridding the doctor of his clingy accessory and getting the autopsy underway.

"Good morning, Ellie," she stated, pulling her sister with her by her arm and disposing of her in front of the stainless steel table in the middle of the autopsy suite. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the ensuing shriek: "Dr Morales, how is your boyfriend?"

With a grateful nod, he took the hint. "Thank you for asking, Captain. He is just fine. Still tall and buff and _very manly_."

Ellie gave him a sad look and stepped aside. "My gaydar isn't working right," she said to Dott who replied in a low voice: "Mine, too. Andy, well, who knows, but the other one? Wouldn't have expected that."

"Andy? Of course! Look at those three piece suits and the ties. Straight men don't dress like that."

Andy scratched his head, unsure what to do with the information. Surely they couldn't be talking about him, so he watched Dr Morales make the incision while Dott continued to whimper quietly in the background, soothed by Ellie who didn't seem to mind the grizzly sight at all.

"Well," Dr Morales said. "It is not as straightforward as it looks."

Sharon lifted an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Have a look at the tox results. Not you."

Ellie pouted and drew back.

"It's just numbers, anyway," she told Dott in a deliberately bored tone. Her friend, however, didn't seem to mind as she was leaning against the wall, ghostly pale and shrinking into the slightly too big autopsy scrubs. She looked a little lost and Andy wasn't sure how long she was going to hold up.

"This number is not just a little high," the pathologist explained to Sharon who was nodding with a look of concentration on her face, her glasses on the tip of her nose as she read. She noticed that Andy was watching her and looked up at him over the rims of her glasses, licking her lips. Her flirty antics didn't go unnoticed by Dr Morales who lowered the chart and rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on, you two! Can't you get it on already? It is getting ridiculous!"

Ellie frowned and then lifted both of her eyebrows while even Dott seemed to snap out of her near-dead state for a moment.

"Excuse me?" Sharon asked him, sounding every bit like the prim and proper Captain Andy had believed her to be before he had found her in his bed in a Dodgers t-shirt and nothing else one Saturday afternoon. If Morales was intimidated, he didn't show it but crossed his arms and rolled his eyes instead.

"You're not fooling anyone, you know. One day he's checking out your legs - rather impious in a morgue, Lieutenant -, next day you're standing too close together not to be-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Sharon interrupted.

"Yeah, that's enough!" Ellie said much to Andy's surprise. He had half-expected her to throw a few paragraphs of cheesy writing at them, not get the doctor to shut up. "You of all people should know how uncomfortable these untenable allegations are making Andy!"

Andy looked sideways at Sharon who was looking sideways at him that very moment.

"Shall we get on with the autopsy results?" Sharon tapped her foot rather noisily.

"Yes, please. I need to get out of here as soon as possible." Dott was white as a sheet.

"What I was saying," Morales cast Sharon a pitying look. "is that he has been shot indeed, but he was already dead when the bullet hit him. Somebody poisoned him."

"_Poison_. Now that is a lot sexier than being shot!" Ellie enthused, making Andy roll his eyes at the ceiling.

"So you had to cut him open to find out what was already in the blood results?" Dott lamented. "Sweet baby Jesus, we could have avoided this travesty?"

"Dott, performing an autopsy is standard procedure when someone died of unnatural causes," Sharon explained with forced patience, her tone speaking of a severe lack thereof. "So Dr Morales, what you are saying is that he was already dead when the bullet hit him?"

"Oh yes, that's what I'm saying," Morales replied with his usual snark and grabbed the bowl he had thrown all the organs in after dissecting them to empty it into the chest cavity. The noise could have been taken straight from a splatter movie and sent Dott over the edge. She made a run for the nearest sink and emptied the contents of her stomach into it, causing Morales to huff.

"Look, next time you bring your family and friends, tell them what to expect before they come in here and mess up my workspace," he told Sharon who clearly wasn't listening. She had that look in her eyes that always appeared there when she was on to something.

"Look, Doctor, what kind of poison was it? When would it have been administered?"

"It's Potassium Cyanide. If it is administered in large doses, it can kill you pretty quickly."

Ellie casually leaned against the wall, staying well clear of the body. "Well, Sharon. It dissolves pretty well in water. Not in alcohol, though. Such a shame."

Sharon lifted an eyebrow.

"Did you try to kill someone?" Morales asked. He obviously wouldn't have put it past Ellie to attempt such a thing.

"No, honey. I researched that one for literary purposes." She fluttered her lashes at him. "It contains prussic acid which smells slightly of almonds. Only twenty to fifty percent of all humanity can actually pick up that scent."

"Impressive," Andy said, earning a bright smile and a wink.

"Thank you, Dr Morales. I think we are on to something. Lieutenant." Sharon lead the way to the door, pausing there to turn around, awkwardly addressing her sister: "Honey, are you okay?"

Dott wiped her mouth with Ellie's handkerchief and waved at her sister, almost falling over in the wake of it. "I am okay. Don't worry about me. I am okay."

Ellie grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Don't worry, I have everything you need. Tranquilizers, stuff that helps with nausea, viagra - wait, what? Why do I carry that with me?" She was rummaging through her purse, pulling out medicine bottle after medicine bottle.

"You know that taking all of these can kill you?" Dr Morales looked mildly scandalized.

"Oh, love, I certainly won't take the little blue one," Ellie winked.

"No, I meant the others, too. You can't combine them. That's dangerous."

"Sir, Ellie could swallow a whole pharmacy. Her body is used to it," Dott told him.

Morales' eyes widened and so did Sharon's. Andy knew he had to distract her before she began to give them one of her lectures. She had read the complete package insert that came with his blood pressure medication out loud, commenting on various side effects. He also knew from Rusty that she resorted to medication only if it was absolutely necessary. Ellie's blatant abuse of prescription pills was to her what a red rug was to a bull.

"Sharon, can I talk to you for a moment about the case?" he asked her gallantly, pulling her out into the hallway and behind a locker where, for a lack of a better strategy, he gently pulled her glasses off her nose and put them in his breast pocket.

"What the-?" Sharon began but was soon silenced by his lips on hers. At first she seemed to be about to resist, but then he felt her relax and kiss him back rather feverishly. They came apart at the sound of Ellie's voice that carried through the door that was now half cracked open.

"- cannot take this from me. This is theft and I will talk to the police about it. SHARON!"

"You're putting yourself in danger!" Morales had completely lost his cool and was arguing his case to the sound of Dott's defeated moans as she tried to fight her nausea.

"How would you know? You're a doctor for the dead!" Ellie yelled.

"Indeed and some of them died because of abuse of medical-"

The arguing duo paused in front of Sharon and Andy and Morales raised his brows.

"Well, well," he said, eyeing their flushed faces and guilty expressions.

Fortunately, nothing more could be said on the topic because Dott staggered between them, grabbing hold of Ellie's arm. "I need some breakfast," she coughed. "And a breath mint."

"You certainly do," Ellie commented dryly then turned to the doctor. "Dr Mabuse, it was very inconvenient to make your acquaintance."

With that she marched off, dragging Dott behind her.

"You can ride with us! I have a lot of breath mints in the backseat of my car!" Andy yelled after Dott, receiving a rather strict look from Sharon.

"Dr Morales, thank you for your time. Please email me the autopsy report as soon as you can." She bowed her head and was about to turn away when she caught Morales' evil smirk. "What?" she snapped.

"I was right. You two are doing it."

Sharon gasped and her eyes narrowed. "Even if we were, that would be none of your business, Dr Morales," she admonished him in a snide voice.

Morales grinned. "Oh, my business are dead people, you mean? Because that's what you are going to be when Lieutenant Provenza finds out. Have a great day, Captain, Lieutenant." He nodded at them in turn and then walked back into his autopsy suite, whistling merrily.

* * *

**A/N:** I think I deserve reviews for the mere fact that I managed to sneak the sentence "Who let Lord Voldemort in here?" in a Major Crimes fic without turning it into a completely insane crossover. I'd be delighted. :-D


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